


Fourier Transform

by wonderwhatthisbuttondoes



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Control Ending, Happy Ending, M/M, Mass Effect 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-07
Packaged: 2018-01-03 21:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderwhatthisbuttondoes/pseuds/wonderwhatthisbuttondoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A century has passed since Shepard took control of the Reapers, ending the war, but no man who talked to his space hamster should be left alone forever.  Fortunately, (and unbeknownst to most of the galaxy) he isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fourier Transform

“So if we just left, how long do you think it would take for them to notice?” Kaidan speculated, folding his arms.  
Shepard joined him at the viewing window. It was focused on Beta Orionis now, a large triple-star in the same galactic spur as Earth, that shone blue-white with Helium.  
“You mean the conspiracy theorist crazies, or how long until they _really_ notice?” Shepard asked.  
“According to the conspiracy theorists, you’re the reason credit-chip machines malfunction,” Kaidan teased.  
“That was just once, and it was a gifted Drell hacker,” Shepard pointed out, “-and I stopped him.”  
“I know.”  
“...That was bait, wasn’t it.”  
“Mm-hmm,” Kaidan nodded, looking back with the star in the window behind him.  
“Heh,” Shepard rested his chin over Kaidan’s shoulder, and hugged him.  
“But seriously, how long would it take?”  
“You want something, don’t you.”  
“I do NOT, I’m just saying-” Kaidan began.  
“Maybe you should talk to your family again.”  
Kaidan shut his eyes, and beneath his hands, Shepard felt Kaiden’s chest move in a quiet sigh.  
“...I think I’m done with that, Shepard. I mean... it seems to do more harm than good. They don’t really know me anymore, so it’s getting weird.”  
Shepard nodded, silent.  
“I’m glad you had a daughter,” he added, after a moment.  
“So am I. I screwed things up pretty badly with Paul, but…” Kaidan trailed off. They’d covered this ground already.  
“You were never right after the war,” Shepard told him flatly.  
“-I know.”  
“You done writing books?” Shepard asked.  
“For the moment,” Kaidan replied, welcoming the change of subject, “-but I reserve the right to do it again...”  
“You think everything’s all right out there?” Shepard said, glancing out the window with a slight frown.  
“Shepard.”  
“Yes?”  
“We’ve been gone three hours.”  
“Yes…”  
“Inside a Fourier Transform, where if anything goes wrong on the outside, it will translate into a ship-wide alarm we can hear.”  
“But I won’t know what it _means_ until I get out and see,” Shepard argued, turning Kaidan around and looking him in the eyes, hands loosely around his waist.  
“ _God_ you’re nosy,” Kaidan laughed.  
“It’s my job?” Shepard ventured, with a lopsided smile.  
“-That’s it, we’re going to Andromeda,” Kaidan told him.  
“We are?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Okay.”  
“...You know the technology to do that doesn’t exist yet, right?”  
“Give me a century,” Shepard promised.

**Author's Note:**

> The Fourier Transform is one of the most important mathematical equations of our time. Among other things, it allows huge amounts of raw data to be compressed for transport or storage, and then extracted at full size again later.  
> (Since Kaidan and Shepard are basically MADE of data at this point, I'm using it to justify why they're speaking English and not having at least twenty five conversations at once.)
> 
> Paul (an OC Kaidan met some years after the war) was a first-in terraforming engineer, closer in personality to Joker than Shepard and really pretty awesome in his own right, though I won't be getting into that here. Their daughter is a splice of the two, not custom-built the way Miranda Lawson was, but checked over very carefully ahead of time for any inherited Eezo-related issues. Kaidan was worried about that.


End file.
